Oakland, Calif. — The Texas Rangers announced prior to tonight’s game that the club has activated left-handed pitcher Joely Rodríguez from the 10-day injured list. Rodríguez (#57) will be available for tonight’s series opener in Oakland, seeking his Rangers debut.

To make room on the active 30-man roster for Rodríguez, the Rangers have placed first baseman Greg Bird on the 10-day injured list, retroactive to August 1, with a right calf strain. 

Rodríguez signed a two-year free agent contract with the Rangers on December 16, 2019, with a club option for the 2022 season. He made 5 appearances with the Rangers in Spring Training before the shutdown, but sustained a left lat strain in April and was not at full strength for the start of Summer Camp in early July. He threw his first bullpen on July 15 as part of his rehabilitation and threw a live batting practice session before the game on Sunday at San Francisco in a final tune-up. 

Rodríguez returns to MLB after going 3-7 with a 1.85 ERA over 90 relief appearances with the Chunichi Dragons of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball in 2018-19. During that time, he averaged 10.6 SO/9 and 2.9 BB/9 while limiting opponents to a .203/.277/.260/.537 slash line. Rodríguez has pitched in the Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Baltimore organizations in addition to a brief stint with the Rangers’ Round Rock affiliate in 2017. He made 38 relief appearances with the Phillies in 2016-17 in only big league action to date.

Bird had yet to appear in a game for Texas since he was selected from the Alternate Training Site on Friday. He was a non-roster invitee to Rangers Spring Training and was one of the final players under consideration for the Opening Day roster before he was reassigned at the end of Summer Camp. His last MLB game was with the Yankees on April 13, 2019 vs. Chicago-AL.

After today’s moves, the Rangers remain at the limit of 40 players on their Major League roster.

Per 2020 MLB regulations, the active roster must be reduced from 30 to 28 players by 11:00 a.m. CT on August 6.